Birthday Party Picture Post

We are 1!

My babies are 1 today!

I'll save the sappy, tear-filled address for their baby books.....today I just want to share the happy birthdays for my two amazingly sweet, smart and beautiful twins.

Hudson, you've been a sweet and loving little dude since you were in my tummy. Looking back to how you positioned yourself when in-utero....it was almost like you slide to the side to let your little sister take front and center. You were wrapped around my right side with your head up by my right rib cage and feet down near my left leg. Like a C shape (you were breech).

Right down the center was your sister.

You love life! You're easy going, fascinated with new things, learning so fast, taking the world 2 little legs at a time.....you're just simply amazing to watch. You are so smart too. You'll try things different ways until you've figured them out, then you'll look up at us to see if we saw you and then clap! Lately, you love to wave and say "eh" which is "hi" I think. You're walking everywhere and you're SO smart. You love sorting, putting things away and looking at books all by yourself. If we read to you, you have to hold the book and turn the pages.

You're an early riser, waking earlier and earlier by the day. EEEK! This morning, I went in and got you and took you back to bed to cuddle since it was 5:45am and that's just too early for us. We don't usually do this, but it was your birthday. Course you wanted daddy......you climbed up on his chest with your favorite blankie and fell back asleep. You love your dad. NO ONE can take his place. Every single stage has brought a new and exciting milestone....it's been an absolute joy to watch you grow.

And back to my comment about how you were while I carried you....as your sister steps on you, pulls on your shirt to get around you if you're blocking her path or even steals toys from you....you don't flinch. You smile, love her and just keep on going about your happy business.

Harper came into this world and the nurses and Dr's called her "Spicy". Every baby cries when they are born, it's those beautiful 1st cries that every mother listens for when their baby has taken its first few breaths. But, my dear Harper.......hers must have been extra loud to get the nickname just minutes after she was born.

And whisked away to the special care nursery she went to have oxygen levels monitored because she was just a little bit smaller than they thought she'd be. Uncle Jeff said "That' girl sure knows how to make an enterance".

You are a girl who shows emotion with every ounce of her being. Happy, sad, mad, frustrated, tired, or scared......we don't have to wonder what's going through your mind because you communicate so well with your mood, laughter or cries.

In all we did, it felt like there was a different way you'd like it done and so we had to learn that in order to keep you thriving and happy. For a while, each bottle was fed to you while you were swaddled and while we alternated the green paci and bottle. Ha!

I want it to be known that no matter WHAT I had to do, I'd do it in order to keep you happy, well fed and feeling loved.

You're amazing to watch. You burst out into giggles at the strangest things which I so wish I could bottle up so that I can always, always hear the beautiful sound. You are so vocal, singing, humming, saying Mama, dada, Nana. You love to dance. You hear music and you start swinging, rocking or shaking your head. This morning, on your birthday, I got to go in and watch you sleep. All curled up on your side, just like mama sleeps, you looked like an angel. Seriously.

Life, for me, has completely changed. I remember people saying that when you become a parent, soon it will be harder and harder to remember what life was like before kids. For me, this hasn't happened yet. I remember coming home to a quiet, clean house, sleeping in on the weekends and having "free" time. But something- I mean someone(s)- were missing. Until Hudson and Harper came along, I felt like life was complete. But seeing my two beautifulc children the minute they were born, the first time they rolled over, the first time they spit back food as we tried a spoon......the first time they clapped and scooted, crawled and walked...THAT is what made life complete. I wouldn't change a thing about my life today, not even the teenyest thing like sleeping in on the weekends. Each day gets better, each day brings new discoveries and challenges and each day I fall just a little deeper in love with these two beautiful faces.

Happy 1st birthday to my beautiful son and daughter! I love you to the moon and back.....

Walking.....

Hudson is full on walking! I mean, not just steps between Blake and I but roaming into the middle of the room, turning around and then heading in a different direction. It's just crazy!

He started last week really getting brave and walking from object to object......but the last couple days he's really just started to venture out into the wide open spaces! 11.5 mos and my little guy is stumbling around on those shakey 2 legs.

Ahh!!!

Harper will not be left behind. She's much less cautios, much less scared and might I add....MUCH less coordinated. Maybe it's a balance thing, maybe it's her lack of focus as she just decides to come barreling at you.....but this girl has no fear and is bound and determined to not be left behind. She's SO.Stinkin.Happy to be up on those tiny feet that she's all teeth, all smiles and that doesn't help the coordination either. :-) But.......she'll get it. And since she skipped the crawling and does this "cirque de soliel" type of a move on the floor to get from room to room.....I think once she sees how much faster she can move on 2 legs.....she'll be trying even harder.

Just reason #10,654 why time is going WAY too fast! These last few months has brought new words, new sounds, coordination, intelligence in recoginzing objects and what they do, new sign language (blow kisses, more and all done) and now the biggie.....walking.

Babykins.....discovering each new thing in life is SO much fun through your eyes but it's happening so fast! Mama wouldn't mind if you slowed down just a teeeeeeeny bit.....please????

Random Update

So, it's Monday, May 16th. Less than a week until......
My bff Jenn flies in from Texas for the weekend!
The twins have their birthday party
1 more day until I get to fly back home to be with my family, who I miss SO much!
I've been traveling since May 9th. I'm on my 2nd trip now, in beautiful, sunny Florida and will be sleeping in my bed tomorrow night!
I can't even express how MUCH I miss my family! Ugh!

Birthday party is on Saturday and it's going to be GO TIME when I get home. Lots of little things to wrap up before our weekend guest comes so I want to get it done so her and I can just play, play, play with the twins! We have a packed weekend. Friday, girls night with close friends. Saturday, praying for nice weather because we're walking Calhoun with the twins, lunch at Tin Fish, visit from Alex and Riley (who sadly can't make it to the party) and then out with a few girls after twins go down to bed.
Sunday........PARTY time!

I'm working on the twins baby books which are now almost completely udpated with their first year milestones. I have this really strange anxiety about them turning 1. Perhaps it's time measured in someone else's life which makes me feel it's SO precious....but I'm holding on to these last 10 days of them being "under 1".

Lastly.....BIG updates on our living situation coming soon. ;-) How's that for a cliffhanger!

Off to go take a little morning walk on the beach. Sounds rough, right? I'll make the most....but I would give anything to be at home playing with Hudson and Harper as they continue to AMAZE me every single day with how much they are learning and growing!

10 Month Recap

My babies are almost a year.....this just seems impossible to me. I feels like literally yesterday that I was keeping my mind busy, running errands, hauling around my HUGE, swollen legs and ankles and BELLY the day before they entered the world. I couldn't sit still that day because if I did.....I'd get WAY too excited. Those feelings I felt, they literally are so fresh in my mind that I can't make my mind believe that it was almost a full year ago.

So much has happened in a year. Can you tell this hormonal mama is having a complex about my teeny, tiny's turning 1?

Well......we're not there yet. We've got 10 more days until they turn 1 and I'm so behind. I must recap month 1o and update with a few other and exciting updates!

Month 10
Huddy Buddy
You're all boy!
Despite your exposre to ALL toys, you prefer your golf club, football or any ball, trucks, dump trucks and LOUD toys.
You love to clap for yourself, for us.
YOu love to give kisses.
You still love those 2 blankets......neither mommy or daddy had "attachment" things when babies so it's odd to see your strong attachment to these two blankets.
You have 4 bottles a day, usually 6oz each
YOu have 3 meals a day....breakfast is usually fruit and a carb. Most of which you feed to the dogs ;-)
You love your daddy.....you sort of entered a peak of stranger anxiety so when mommy and daddy are around you and others are around (even grandma's) you are strongly attached to us. However, you definitely want daddy over mommy. :-(
You're crawling everywhere, side stepping and scaling the rooms and close to walking!
We took your birthday pics this month and so you tasted cake for the first time.....you LOVED it!
You're so tough, little man. You rarely cry, you nap like a rockstar, you sleep at night like a bear and you are so incredibly easygoing and loveable. We love you more than words can say.....thank you for being such a beautiful little sunshine in our lives.

Harper
You're so colorful, dear. You laugh,cry, squeel with delight and cry again in 1 full minute. Your laughter has become bigger than your little body......and so have these crying rages when Hudson takes your toy or you are frustrated.
Oh my baby girl!
You refuse to crawl. Simply will NOT crawl. You have started to scoot to the left, by using your left arm to push you across wood floors. Gets you to where you're going!
You threw a tantrum one day this month because you were side stepping along the couch and you fell down. You laid on the floor and just wailed. I wanted to help you back up to standing but daddy said you needed to learn so we had to ignore you for a minute(which felt like 20 minute) and sure enough you somehow figured how to pull your little frame up to standing. We were so proud. I guess, even through your frustration, we have to back off and let you figure things out.
You have 4 bottles a day, usually 4-6oz
3 meals a day, you still LOVE to eat! Blueberries are the ultimate favorite and were my favorite when I was a baby too!
You nap good, you sleep like a rock at night....and you talk nonstop.
When we lay you down for a nap or bedtime, you can lay in there for 40 plus minutes sometimes and just talk and sing away.
You're very coordinated, not quite walking yet but very good at picking up tiny things, passing them from hand to hand.
Harper, you are a mommy's girl still. I know from my relationship with my mom that there are times when we'll be really close and times when you want your distance from me.....so I will charish this time where only I can stop your tears. We love you more than words baby doll.

My 1st Mother's Day

Was incredible!

I am so lucky to have such amazing children, a wonderful husband.....fabulous family! We had a beautiful day! My mom came down late Sat night and we woke up, played with the twins, ran and got coffee and got ready for the zoo.

Blake, my mom, the twins and I met Kim, Jeff, Izaak, Landon and Ileigh at the zoo for a FUN-filled day! So crazy.....5 adults and 5 kiddo's!

After the zoo, back home to get dinner ready for part 2....the Elliott side! We had the entire Elliott clan over, Grandma Marit, Uncle Ryan, Auntie Karn, Cousin William and Auntie Katie. I felt so blessed to be with my WHOLE family.....and on top of it....I got a Keurig coffee pot! LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

I leave for Baltimore tomorrow until Thursday so there were tears at bedtime....but this time they didn't come from my 11 month olds! I'm so sad to leave them.....Ugh. Absolutely breaks my heart! Ok, enough talking about it...tearing up again!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the incredible women who have given selfishly 365 days a year! May today be a day where you feel the love! I definitely was feeling the love!

The pitter patter of......Harper's tiny feet

Harper's a brave soul. I have said it over and over.....but this girl has some TINY feet! It feels they've grown in thickness....but not in length.
Seriously.

But, this brave little girl sees her big bro scooting around and won't be left behind. She's very wobbly walked from Blake to me and taken a few (maybe 2) steps between us before crashing into our arms. Her face........priceless! Big, HUGE, toothy smile the whole way.

But this morning, I looked over and my baby girl standing unassisted and then she started walking towards me! Hudson graduated to this....he's walking (or launching himself) from the couch to our arms. But I don't even know what Harper pulled up on to get her to standing.
Unreal.

These two......they really are something else! It's AMAZING, really what they pick up on now. Whether I gently tell them "no" if they are headed to the bookshelf, or putting something in their mouth....they totally understand us! Hudson was dragging around his bottle yesterday and making a mess so I askd him to bring it to me.....and he did!
They both understand what a phone is and love to pretend "talk". When we say "Say Hi to Grandma or Hola" they put whatever object up to their ear to talk. They are into waving, giving high 5's still and like "sorting" things by putting objects into a box, taking them out, putting them back in.

I digress........big time! I'll save the rest of my updates for their overdue 11month post. But had to report, that our "little-foot" is starting to venture into the world on those tiny feet and wobbly legs. And might I add.....she skipped crawling alltogether. No interest, NONE whatsoever!

~Babes are 11months, mama is 20 weeks pregnant and we're all 4 prayerfully on the mend from a nasty sickness that invaded our home and knocked us all down!